Key Note Gaming

It might only be July, but Hallmark is already revealing its first wave of 2026 Keepsake Ornaments. The star of this year’s gaming-themed collection is an impressively accurate recreation of the original PlayStation, complete with light effects and the console’s iconic start-up sounds. The ornament, which is the first time Hallmark has ‘adapted’ a PlayStation console , is now available for purchase exclusively from Hallmark with a retail price of $28.99. Hallmark Debuts PlayStation Keepsake Ornament in 2026 Collection For a decoration that only measures four inches wide, Hallmark's take on the PlayStation packs in the details. Artist Orville Wilson managed to squeeze in pretty much every divet and button you'd find on the actual console, including the trio of Power, Reset, and Open buttons. Given recent news about the digital-only future of PlayStation games , it almost brings a tear to my eye to see that 'Open' button accompanied by a beautiful disc drive. A detailed...

A fresh LEGO leak has revealed a $200 Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet, reportedly due for release next month. An image posted to the r/Legoleak reddit shows the detailed arcade machine set, complete with Donkey Kong, Jumpman (AKA Mario) and a captive Princess Peach, all in their familiar positions. Several buttons and an arcade stick are present at the base of the machine, while its top is decorated with red "DONKEY KONG" letters. The set is listed as being for ages 18+ and containing 1,367 pieces, with an expected launch date of August 1. Mario: 72051 Donkey Kong Arcade Set Image (via u/Gupytex) by u/CarterBricks04 in Legoleak While further images of the set are yet to surface, it does look like the creation will feature some form of interactivity — perhaps similar to the retro Super Mario NES set that allowed you to turn a crank and scroll through a classic Mario Bros. level. You could imagine dials or buttons here being used to make Jumpman, well, jump, or move barrels alo...

Obsidian Entertainment director Brandon Adler is tired of seeing "cold take artists" who are "running their mouths" about how the studio has changed following recent Xbox layoffs. The developer responsible for directing The Outer Worlds 2, as well as a new unannounced project, made his feelings about the conversation surrounding Obsidian clear in a LinkedIn post (via Eurogamer ). Noting that it's been "an extremely difficult week" for the team, he spent time bidding farewell to those who were let go before addressing those who have been "coming out of the woodwork to talk about" what the studio "is or what it isn't." "Another difficult aspect is having to see a bunch of cold take artists coming out of the woodwork to talk about what Obsidian is or what it isn't," Adler said. "The number of times I've seen people, with no understanding of who has worked on our previous games or what they contributed, talk ...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on select LEGO sets, the RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR Glasses, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, the Criterion Collection Blu-ray Sale, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, July 12, below. Save on RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR Glasses Amazon has a Lightning Deal right now for the RayNeo Air 4 Pro Glasses, which can instantly transform your gaming or movie-viewing experience. The RayNeo Air 4 Pro are XR/AR glasses, with support for a 201-inch virtual display. It's as easy as plugging in the glasses via USB-C to any compatible device, and since there's no battery onboard, they're lightweight and can be brought anywhere. LEGO Technic McLaren P1 for $379.99 The LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is a perfect choice for any car fan, and today, you can save $60 off this impressive set at Woot. As a LEGO Technic set, this 1:8 scale model recreates both the interior and exterior flawlessly. This 3,893-piece set includes the V8 piston engine, the opening d...

Activision has clarified that its recently released Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 ports do in fact support crossplay between PS4 and PS5, following confusion from players online. The official Call of Duty Update X/Twitter account confirmed how the feature works amid a flurry of posts from fans across social media. It comes with clarification that those across both PlayStation platforms will be able to play multiplayer with one another, while also sharing that Season Pass owners can matchmake with non-Season Pass owners, too. "PS4 and PS5 players are able to matchmake with one another," Activision said. "There is no cross-platform play with PS3 or other hardware platforms." 📢 Call of Duty: #BlackOps & #BlackOps2 on PS4 / PS5 PS4 and PS5 players are able to matchmake with one another. There is no cross-platform play with PS3 or other hardware platforms. Also, Season Pass owners are able to matchmake with non-Season Pass owners in both titles. — Call o...

TennoCon 2026 has finally wrapped, and developer Digital Extremes has revealed new content for both Warframe and Soulframe – it's two massive online action RPGs. Throughout the TennoCon live show, we got to see the developers showcase long-anticipated updates that will not only take players to new locations but also introduce new antagonists for the larger stories ahead in both live-service games. In addition to the long-form reveal of Warframe's Tau expansion, which introduces a new galaxy to explore that's filled with new threats, we saw Soulframe showcase a new fable questline focusing on the reveal of a new weapon and darkside powers to adopt, along with the anticipated arrival of new player mounts and a new fishing mini-game. Continue below for everything revealed at TennoCon 2026! Warframe - Tau revealed, Iceblade of Narin, and a new type of Warframe to control The long-anticipated Tau expansion for Warframe was finally revealed at TennoCon 2026, and according to th...

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on select LEGO sets, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, the Criterion Collection Blu-ray Sale, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, July 11, below. LEGO Technic McLaren P1 for $379.99 The LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is a perfect choice for any car fan, and today, you can save $60 off this impressive set at Woot. As a LEGO Technic set, this 1:8 scale model recreates both the interior and exterior flawlessly. This 3,893-piece set includes the V8 piston engine, the opening doors, 7-speed gearbox, and more. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $44.99 Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the very first entry in the beloved Trails series, and this remake from last year brought new life into the original game. Considering 2nd Chapter is set to release later this year, this is a great time to pick up 1st Chapter if you've never had a chance to check it out. 50% Off Criterion Collection Sale Barnes & Noble is having its 50% Criterion Colle...

Bethesda was hit hard by this week’s Xbox layoffs, with cuts to The Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer Bethesda Game Studios, Doom developer id Software, and The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios, among other parts of the business. A Maryland WARN Act notice shows 213 employees were laid off from ZOS's office in Cockeysville, MD, and 166 from ZeniMax Media Inc. in Rockville, MD, for a total of 379. 96 staff who worked at id Software's office in Richardson, Texas, were cut, alongside a further 40 remote roles. While it’s difficult to pin down exactly what the affected staff were working on at these studios because there are blended teams across Bethesda locations, the WARN numbers undoubtedly make for difficult reading. The restructure at Xbox — 1,600 staff lost their jobs on Monday, with another 1,600 to go over the course of the next 12 months — has called into question the future of not just the studios Microsoft has on its books, but the quality of the...

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has passed 2 million copies sold in its first day since launch. It's a milestone that saw it rank among the best in the franchise and arrived alongside strong player numbers across various platforms. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's July 9 launch saw it land in the number one spot on Twitch, while its concurrent player count on Steam reached a peak of 99,451, a series high . "Black Flag has always held a special place in the heart of the community, and ours." Head of Assassin's Creed brand Martin Schelling said in a statement. "Bringing it back with Resynced was a promise to that passion for Edward’s adventures, and to the unique sense of freedom players experienced back then. Seeing 2 million players set sail on day one, along with the great reviews from critics, is the greatest reward we could have hoped for." Dash my Buttons... Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has al...

EA Sports College Football 27 has launched to "Mostly Negative" Steam reviews as fans revolt against pricey microtransactions in offline game modes. The latest in EA's line of College Football video games immediately came under fire when it launched for early access on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S July 6. It all stems from the removal of features for the Road to Glory and Dynasty modes in favor of microtransactions that range from $9.99 to $149.99. In College Football 25 and 26, offline versions of these modes allowed players to customize their experience by using settings to boost XP gain. In College Football 27, EA has gutted those settings, replacing them with the option to spend real-world money to increase things like a player's coach level. As outlined by content creator Bordeaux, who has helped push the #CFBPlayDontPay movement, this year's College Football entry asks players to spend as much as $100 to reach the max coach level of 100. The fact that th...

Santa Monica Studio has confirmed God of War Laufey will "be available on a physical disc," suggesting its launch will arrive in 2027. The PlayStation studio announced the news with a post on its X/Twitter account. When replying to its post revealing that it would show up to talk about God of War Laufey at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, it told fans fearing an all-digital launch that they have nothing to worry about. "We can confirm God of War Laufey will be available on disc," Santa Monica Studio said. We can confirm God of War Laufey will be available on disc. — Santa Monica Studio – God of War Laufey (@SonySantaMonica) July 10, 2026 It's a one-sentence announcement that God of War fans have already begun latching onto for two reasons. First and foremost is that it confirms the Deborah Ann Woll-starring video game will be available for purchase on a disc following the news that Sony would cease production for new physical games starting in January 2028 . A...

Actor Peter Serafinowicz has revealed how a chance encounter with fellow Dark Souls superfan Alex Garland led to him landing a role in the upcoming Elden Ring movie. Serafinowicz, who is best known as the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, for playing Pete in Shaun of the Dead, Garthan Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Sommelier in John Wick: Chapter 2, picked Dark Souls as one of his Five Brilliant Things in an interview with British comedian Russell Howard . Serafinowicz spoke passionately of his love for Dark Souls in the interview, explaining in great detail how its infamous difficulty makes it one of the most rewarding video games ever created. “Once that clicks, it's like, oh my god, this is the game I've been waiting for my whole life,” he said. “It teaches you that no obstacle is insurmountable. And it's just the most satisfying game that I've ever played. And there's a thing about all these games, once you play them an...

Before Palworld’s Early Access debut in 2024, I remember eagerly wanting to review the completely unhinged-looking “Pokemon with guns” game, mostly as a joke. Hilariously, the joke was on me when it not only became one of the biggest games of the year, but also one of my all-time favorite survival games . With its 1.0 update now finally at-hand over two years later, I was quite excited to jump back into this strange, sometimes-oddly-dark creature collector. Though I’m only a dozen hours into a fresh playthrough of the 1.0 version, so far it has improved in all the ways I hoped it would after sinking so much time into its earliest incarnation. Most of the technical rough edges have been smoothed over, progression has been smartly streamlined, and loads of missing bits and baubles have been added, like a fully realized story with NPCs to chat with and quest lines to complete – not to mention a proper ending to that story, which I am hungry to reach before I put a final score on this revi...

For whatever reason, a bunch of video game companies are helping advertise Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced . The social accounts for Control , Dead by Daylight , and various gaming hardware companies such as SteelSeries have had their accounts taken over by marketing for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. The long-awaited remaster/remake of the beloved Assassin's Creed game dropped today and, to apparently help spread the word, all of these accounts posted about the game. Epic Game Store also rebranded its socials by changing its profile picture and banner to feature Black Flag-themed imagery. McDonald's even chimed in as well. who’s ready to sail the Hi-C’s this weekend #assassinscreed #boardthefeed pic.twitter.com/HIoLqpb2Cy — McDonald's (@McDonalds) July 9, 2026 The various accounts made posts claiming to have been "boarded" while throwing up the game's signature black pirate flag. Social accounts for Ubisoft titles like Watch Dog...

John Carmack has responded to the significant layoffs at Doom developer id Software, expressing sadness but not “anger or outrage.” On Wednesday, a WARN notice filed in Texas reported by Game Developer confirmed that 96 workers had been laid off in Richardson, Texas, home of id Software, with a further 40 remote roles cut. Reports indicate 50% of staff have lost their jobs. The cuts come as part of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s “reset” of Microsoft’s gaming business, which began with 1,600 staff losing their jobs on Monday. Another 1,600 will be let go during the rest of the current financial year. Four Xbox studios are already out the door, with another hot on their heels. Carmack, who co-founded id Software in 1991 alongside John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack, took to social media to express his belief that the company was a “marginal business” for Microsoft, and that he couldn’t see an obvious way for it to make more money from its games. Here’s the statement in full: I have b...